Paris Agreement: The fight is not over

Today is an important day in the fight against climate change. A year after a historic deal was signed by world leaders, the Paris Agreement is coming into force.

As a reminder, last year at COP21 in Paris countries agreed to:

‘Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels’.

The text was signed by 192 countries and it has so far been ratified by 94 countries representing about 66% of global emissions. But the UK still hasn’t ratified the Paris Agreement and although the government pledged to do it before the end of the year, UKYCC will continue to campaign for the country to show leadership in tackling climate change and formally adopt the text as soon as possible.

There are also some uncertainties over whether the agreement will come into action in 2020 as originally planned or if it becomes operational from today. A sticky legal question.

The Paris Agreement is one victory in the fight against climate but it is far from perfect and we do not have the time to rest on our laurels. More action is needed – now.

The text formalises the legal framework for all countries to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but so far countries’ National Determined Contributions (NDCs) come close to 3.7 ° C – far from the 2 °C pledge and let alone the 1.5 °C target.

This is just not good enough.

The Paris Agreement’s entry into force comes only a few days before the start of COP22 – the UN climate talks in Marrakesh – on Monday.

This year’s conference will be key to keep the momentum from Paris going with plenty of hot topics on the negotiating table.

You can find more information about each of these in our blog series Road to Marrakesh.

The UKYCC international delegation will be attending the conference and some delegates are already in Morocco with young people from around the world for the Conference of the Youth (COY).